Bubbling this photo up from the +Bike Hugger page where the conversation continues. It’s also being discussed on Facebook and other blogs that have picked the photo up. This is Robert Egger’s Lunch Ride bike. He’s like the Johnny Ives of Specialized, their Creative Director. Lunch rides for cyclists are where the regular, working Joe’s thrown down. It’s a weekly championship where pride and ego are on the line.

Lunch Ride World Champ

Spesh’s Lunch Ride, like Novara and others, are legendary – this is a ride where only one can win. It’s like a group Thunderdome, on wheels, on the road.

Egger’s got something to prove

Photo: by Richard Masoner

So the story goes that Robert felt he needed an edge on the ride. Maybe he was off the pace a bit, so he took a high-end Time Trail bike – the Shiv – and converted it to a road bike with a drop bar. You’d normally see this bike with less of a juicy fruit paint job and aero bars in the Tour.

Please keep 3 ft away from me, when the wind comes up, thanks and you better pull the whole time too.

That bike isn’t meant to ride next to anyone – it’s too squirrely in the wind.

It’s also brilliant.

Old guys, like me, who can’t win on fitness alone anymore (or even place) use all sorts of head games and dirty tricks. Like grizzly old stock car drivers who feign a mechanical to catch their breath or pit for the slightest reason. So Egger’s thinking, “guys won’t want to get next to me, yes!”

Intimidating your foes with a menacing bike is the wisdom of an old-guy at work v. the horsepower in the legs of the new guy. See more photos on G+.

Me, I’d take a Venge over this – there’s only so much painful position a Masters racer can take. Dr. Andy Pruitt is probably working on a saddle just for this bike, one that tucks your junk.

Lunch Rides

I haven’t ridden with Spesh on their Lunch Ride, but have Novara. Though, the hardest I rode last year was when I was chasing D’aluisio, got dropped, and caught back on with blood coming out of my eyes and snot flying everywhere. That was one of the hardest rides ever actually – the dude powerslides a bike like a moto. I’m sure Egger built this bike to destroy D’aluisio on his Tarmac.

I wrote about the Novara ride a few years ago and said then, “bring your good wheels” after their CTO showed up with his A-bike and race wheels.